The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1887-07-23

\ SENSITIVE INSTRUMENT

a
The new 0radio-micrometer," just described
to the London Royal Society BY Mr.. Charles
Vernon Boys, is the most delicate neat-inoicator
vst known. With its sensibility reduced to one
tenth. il proved to be still capable OF showing the
heat which would be cast on halfpenny py
candle-fame at distance OF i,loo ieet ana cal
culat;on shows that it may be made to snow
change in temperature at the junction OF its metals
~ sl;oht a the hundred millionth of a degree
Tho anparatus is essentially minute thermo-
electric circuit suspended between the poles OF q
powerful magnet, the circuit--whicn IS OF copper
wire and an anthony bismuth bar-being de-
flected by the smallest heatray, and causing the
light from q tiny mirror to magnify the mouon.
The same author has produced an electro magnetic
motor Of = remarkable kind. Itconsists OF cross
with anthony centre and bismuth arms, to the
ands Of which are soldered four copper wires,
whose free ends are Joined BY ring Oh copper
which rotates rapidly when the spark OF . blown
out-match is held near. $3.50 t
AN ANCIENT BOTANY.
Tho great temple Of Karnak, at Thebes, Egypt,
contains the oldest botanical work in the world.
n il sculpturod ON the walls, and represents for
eion plants brought home by Thothmes Ill from
= eampaign in Arabia. Not only is the plant or
tree shown, but the leaves fruit and seedpods are
illustrated separately, after the fashion OF modern
botanists. Paper casts have been taken oy W.
FLINDERS Petrie, the distinguished archaeologist.
MAGNETIC INSTITUTE.
From small beginning in the winter OF 1852,
DIR. Sophus Tromholt has extended the systemauc
investigation of terrestrial magnetlsm-lneiuolng
especially the phenomena of the aurora koreans
over the countries of Northern Europe, eniisung
MANY hundred persons in the work OF concerted
observation at different points. on eaEn year
several hundred auroras have been careiuiiy STUD
led. The mysterious currents affecting teiegrapns
and telephones are automatically registered-witn
their time, intensity and direction-from nortn
and south telegraph line nearly 1000 miles long,
telephones being used when this wire IS not avai
able. DR.. Tromholt's work is being performed
in Norway, the land of especial promise, lying,
as it does, at the maximum point OF the aurora
zone and in the centre of magnetic disturbances,
where interesting phenomena are. ot daily occur
ranca nf sn~h onitrde and Inheritance haSe
these investigations now become thatlt proposeo
to establish Government institute at Dr0n'heIui'
10 serve as the central station OF the world. fu-
ture reports from such an institute may give many
vet unlearned lesson from this little known vol
ume of the Book of Nature.
THE UNIVERSAL MEASURES.
The metric system Of weights and measures, ac-
cording to Mr.. James Jackson OF the Paris deo-
graphical Society, is now obligatory by law IN
the Argentine Republic, Austria and Hun
gary, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Chill, Colon
bia. Denmark, Ecuador, France and colonies,
Germany, Greece, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands,
Norway. Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Roumanla,
Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, with a total pop
uiation of 241, 973,011. 1t is optional by law IN
Canada, Great Britain and Ireland, Persia, anu
the United States, with ,S25 inhabitants.
tits often used without having legal value in
Egypt, British India, Russia, Turkey, Uruguay;
and Venezuela, with combined population OF
333,266, 1856. The system was first estaohsned IN
France in 1898, and standards were adopted IN
1899. 4s@issS-
YOUNG MOUNTAINS.
n 90 H. 0ahc hplI9VeS
the South American Cordilleras, or at least por-
ton of them, are of very recent formation, and
infers that Lake Titicaca and the surrounding re-
gion must have been raised to the present eleva-
ton of about $4,000 feet within the historical
period. He therefore maintains that the colossal
sculptured stones of the old Inca city Tihuanoco
on that lake were worked when the land was at a
much lower level, it being incredible that the
highly civilized Incas would have located their
emporium on tableland now almost unlnhablta-
BILE. sH5
A FRENCH SCIENTIFIC NOVELTY.
Electric whistles, ever melodious in sound, and
said to be less expensive in manufacture than
electric bells, are being favorably received IN
France. The whistle is made by fitting small
brass tube against the spring of a suitably formed
commutator, or circuit "make-
MISCELLANEOUS.
A woman dying from myxedema is reported to
have had temperature ranging from Go to 70
degrees F., the normal being 9S.5. This Is proea-
bly, the lowest recorded human temperature.
A dwarf pine from Japan, only two feet high
though supposed to be thirty years old, is among
the treasures of an English horticuturist, Mr..
George Nav.
An italian traveller, Prof. s. Sommier, finds
that the northern limit of the Siberian forest re-
gion is retreating southwark, on account, he be-
ieves, of increasing moisture of the climate of
Arctic Asia. In Many districts the trees have
been succeeded by extensive tracts of water-sat-
urated moss.
The following of paper, according to Prof.
Wiesner, is due to an oxidation determined by
light, especially by the more refrangibe rays
It is greater in wood than in rag papers, and in
moist than in dry air. The electric light, rich in
the more refrangible rays, has greater dlscolor.
49, saseszf-E sf.14-s s,uss.
The steam power of Great Britain is estimated
to perform the work of more than 4OO,OOO,OOo
able-bodied men,-which must nearly represent
the capacity of the entire human race with
out the aid Of machinery.